


Not all those who wander are lost

by scarlettandblue



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-11
Updated: 2017-04-11
Packaged: 2018-10-17 16:59:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10598283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scarlettandblue/pseuds/scarlettandblue
Summary: A little backstory about David Rossicreated for a challenge at the wonderfulNothing icky or squicky or yuckyand no slash either :(





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is a short piece from the Criminal Minds world again here from LJ just in case of bad things happening there.
> 
>  
> 
> Disclaimer  
> None of these charactrs are mine, the TV companies and the Production companies and the wonderful writers and the fabulous actors own Criminal Minds. I just want to play with the pretty toys. Plase don't sue me for it.

David Rossi signed the final documents that ended his third marriage in a suite at the Park Cities Hilton. It was one of the nicer hotels he'd stayed in on this latest book tour. 

But that didn't really make up for it.

Room service had brought The Macallan. He didn't even look at what they charged for it, whatever it cost was worth it, to get through this. After a couple of drinks he picked up the pen.

Angie hadn't seemed so sure that divorce was the way she wanted to go the last time they had spoken. Dave had been pretty sure sure she was hoping some jealous husband would make her a widow. At least he thought she'd said that as she slammed the phone down. But then envelopes began arriving by courier. Following him from New York to San Francisco and from Los Angeles to Dallas. The final one had arrived earlier that day. 

He signed each page in the three places required, then dropped the pen. He tugged the wide gold wedding ring off his finger and dropped it onto the papers. Then he splashed a generous third measure of the glorious smoky liquor into his glass and glugged another mouthful down.

The taste of it evoked so many memories and Dave found it impossible to hold onto that thread of anger. He set the glass down, maybe a little heavily, he hadn't had the stomach for food that day and he was beginning to feel the drink. He picked the ring up again and turned it around in his fingers.

He had three of them now.

The first ring hadn't been expensive. They didn't have much money but it was something he wouldn't compromise on. If you were married you wore a ring.

The second ring was set with three cabochon diamonds. It had been costly, but Shannon had been painfully aware that Dave had worn his first wedding ring long after the divorce from Rita So she had needed him wear a ring that represented their marriage. 

This third ring had almost been an afterthought. Two days before they were due to leave for Maui they'd been passing a jewellers when Angie remembered her new watch strap needed adjusting. They stepped inside and right away she had spotted the display. The jeweller explained that the pattern was Byzantine. Dave had liked it from the moment he saw it. Angie had insisted it was the perfect ring for him to wear to please the last Mrs Rossi.

Dave had an antique ebony and brass box at home on his dresser where he kept the other two rings. He supposed this ring was headed there too.

He finished the last mouthful of his drink. He could easily have poured out another glass but he knew he'd had enough. Plus the idea of getting drunk and melancholy in some anonymous hotel room was such a cliché. 

Dave felt in his pocket for the gold chain he always carried. Sometimes people would catch a glimpse of it and assume they were his children, he would detect a different expression around the eyes and a kind of fleeting half smile would soften their expression. He hated the explanation he'd have to give to set them right. But he couldn't bring himself to leave the damn thing behind, and in a way he supposed that meant they were his kids.

He slipped the fancy gold ring onto the chain and closed the clasp. He never normally carried it as a bracelet but it made a safe place to keep the ring until he got home.

He knew any one of his old colleagues would read significance into the way he hid the evidence of his failed marriages in a dark wooden box, but he carried a memento of that other failure out into the world with him every day. That was only one of the reasons Dave hadn't kept in touch with Jason and Robert and Aaron. 

He sat back in his chair, catching sight of himself in the mirror across the room. Sometimes he hated that he didn't look his age. That all the failures and the successes didn't seem to have left any marks. Or maybe he just couldn't see them. Maybe some things were a cliché because they were true. It was time for some changes in his life. He could always grow a beard. 

 

 

All that is gold does not glitter,  
Not all those who wander are lost;  
The old that is strong does not wither,  
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.  
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,  
A light from the shadows shall spring;  
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,  
The crownless again shall be king. 

JRR Tolkien


End file.
